THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO MAKE THE NOISE...

In thinking about this week's blog, I decided (even though it has been one of the most varied and busy weeks I have had in a while) to do another of my "Top Ten" lists. But, rather than take a look at artists, I wanted to give you my thoughts on ten of the best songwriters in Country Music history. Doing a list like this can be tough. You're going to leave out somebody.....and I'm sure that I did. I did have one set rule: If a writer had undeniable success as an artist, I left them off. Also, out of fairness...lol....I omitted the names of Harlan Howard, Hank Cochran, and Cindy Walker. They are obvious no-brainers, and if you throw in names like Hank Williams, Don Gibson, Dolly Parton, and Bill Anderson, the list would almost be taken.....So, here's my tribute to the "Boys and Girls who make the noise on 16th Avenue! All but my number one choice are in alphabetical order......

1. MATRACA BERG-----Yes, she did notch a pair of top-40 records (and should have had many more), but Berg has preferred to remain one of Nashville's most successful female writers of all time, earning induction into the NSAI Songwriters' Hall Of Fame. She's written so many for so many, it's hard to pick one....so I'll pick two!

BEST BERG SONG YOU KNOW: "Strawberry Wine," 1996----Though I think her current "You And Tequila," as recorded by Kenny Chesney & Grace Potter might eventually become my favorite, there's no denying that this song struck a chord with many.....and helped to make Deana Carter a star!

BEST BERG SONG YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW: "Dickson County," 1998----Sure, go ahead and call me biased because of my birthplace, but this cut from Deana Carter's EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE ALRIGHT disc is one that someone needs to recut!

2. BOBBY BRADDOCK-----The most recent writer to gain admission into the Country Music Hall Of Fame, he's written so many classics---including the song that many consider to be the greatest song of all time, "He Stopped Loving Her Today." So.....

BOBBY BRADDOCK'S BEST SONG....BESIDES, YOU KNOW....THAT ONE: "Time Marches On," 1996----The moment I first heard this song from Tracy Lawrence in 1996, I knew this was something special.....and each listen later over the past 15 years, it still is!

3. GARY BURR----Conway Twitty helped to cement Burr as a Nashville tunesmith with his 1987 hit "That's My Job," and he has continued to excel since, with cuts like "Watch Me," "What Mattered Most," and "More Love." Still, not every song he wrote became a huge hit....sadly,,,,which leads me to....

BEST BURR HIT THAT WASN'T: "I Already Do," 1998----Depending on what radio station you were listening to in '98, you might have heard this Chely Wright ballad a lot.....And, if you didn't....you should have!

4. DEAN DILLON-----Name 70 percent of George Strait's hits, and they probably at least share the name of Dean Dillon as a writer......but he has written for other acts.

BEST DILLON SONG CUT BY SOMEBODY NOT NAMED GEORGE: "By Now," 1981--The song was one of Steve Wariner's earliest hits....and thirty years later, it's still one of his best.

5. WAYNE KEMP----A journeyman as a recording artist, Kemp never got his due as a singer. But, his writing fared much better, with such hits as Ricky Van Shelton's 1988 chart-topper, "I'll Leave This World Loving You."

BEST KEMP SONG WORTH SEARCHING FOR: You won't have to look far for George Strait's 1984 CMA-winning DOES FORT WORTH EVER CROSS YOUR MIND
album. On it, you will find a honky-tonker called "I Should Have Watched That First Step" that will blow you out of your mind!

6. JOHN D. LOUDERMILK----A relative of the Louvin Brothers, Loudermilk wrote some of the 60s biggest hits, including "Break My Mind" and "Tobacco Road." But, perhaps his best song IMHO was a 1967 hit for the Casinos that was upstaged by a sharecropper's son.

BEST CUT OF A LOUDERMILK SONG: A tough call, but Eddy Arnold wrapped his voice around his 1968 cover of "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" like nobody else could!

7. HUGH PRESTWOOD: Getting one of his first breaks in the Country format with Randy Travis's 1990 hit "Hard Rock Bottom Of Your Heart," he notched one of his biggest successes with a song that could very well wind up in a songwriting textbook one day.

IF YOU WANT TO DO IT, DO IT LIKE THIS: Trisha Yearwood made Prestwood's "The Song Remembers When" an instant classic upon recording it in 1993. It could be the perfect example in craftsmanship and performance.

8. DON SCHLITZ: He looked like no other songwriter when he took home all the awards for "The Gambler" in 1978-79, and his writing has definitely been in a class all by itself.

BEST SCHLITZ SONG NOT HEARD BY MASSES: One of the best parts of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's CIRCLE 2 album was the top-20 masterpiece "And So It Goes," a song that gave John Denver one of his last hits as an artist as well, in 1989.

9. SHEL SILVERSTEIN: Like Schlitz, he didn't look like a Country songwriter, and technically wasn't per se, but his songs received so much attention from Country artists that he has to be included on this list. Like with Berg, I could not just choose one.

BEST OF SHEL'S HITS: Many people thought that "One's On The Way" had to be written by Loretta Lynn. It wasn't. I don't know if Silverstein wrote it for her or not, but it sounds like he got right into her brain on that one.

BEST OF THE ALBUM CUTS: Bobby Bare recorded so many of Shel's songs, with my personal favorite being the eight-minute song "Rosalie's Good Eats Cafe." Artists are called that for a reason!

And.....who is my choice for # 1? Well, it's not one, but it's two!

DENNIS MORGAN / KYE FLEMING: While each has had separate successes, together these two were absolute magic in the late 1970s and early 1980s, writing what became in many ways the soundtrack of my childhood. Picking one from this duo is tough, but....

IF I HAD TO PICK A FAVORITE: It would be (by a nose) Barbara Mandrell's 1980 recording of a song called "Years." I don't know whether the two did it on purpose, but the song is one of those that can have different meanings to different people...and I know what it means to me.....but I could also say "The Best Of Strangers"....or "Wish You Were Here" or "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool." To say that these two were on a roll would have been the understatement of the century!